Can You Create the Next ‘Uncharted 3′?

Earlier this week, Sony paid a visit to the USC School of Cinematic Arts to debut their new PlayStation 3 (PS3) title “Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception” and to put on a career panel about becoming a video game developer. Scott Rohde, senior vice president of product development for Sony Worldwide Studios America, hosted the student event which featured a discussion between two of the lead developers at Naughty Dog Studios, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Sony subsidiary that created the “Uncharted” series. We’ve included a rundown of the panel.

Amy Hennig is the creative director on the “Uncharted” series, and the 21-year video game veteran started off by saying that she didn’t originally plan to go into gaming. This isn’t uncommon for older developers since there were no dedicated game design programs at universities in the 80s. She fell into gaming in 1989 after aborting a Masters degree in filmmaking. But she was able to apply her filmmaking skills at Nintendo and later Electronic Arts where she successfully worked her way up through a very male-dominated industry.

It was the right move, she said in hindsight, since she abhorred the idea of dealing with the Hollywood hierarchy. And she’s found gaming to be more of a more limitless entertainment medium than movies and television, which have very linear production processes. Game development, on the other hand, is more ad hoc and akin to feeling around in the dark. “Everything we do is about humility because we are figuring it out as we go. But that’s what makes good game. By being flexible, just moving forward and adapting to where you are. You can’t plan it out like you can a movie,” she said.

Hennig admits that she game developers often feel like frauds that are constantly afraid that they’ll be found out because so much of game development is an act of faith and failure is a part of that process. “But you just have to push through the doubt. And suddenly when you let go of all of that, it starts flowing.”

Justin Richmond, game director for “Uncharted,” referenced the ‘Lost in the Desert’ sequence in the new title as an example of the importance of teamwork and trusting the vision of team members. “On paper that sounds like the most boring thing of all time. Drake is wandering around the desert. But one of the designers took ownership of it and just did it,” said Richmond.

“But for a long time it’s like, oh my god, we’re putting in a 10 minute sequence where nothing happens. It ended up being awesome.”

“The question is do you have faith? That’s what we ask when we hire,” said Richmond. “You have to have faith that everybody else is going to do a good job. It’s a hard thing to teach.”

Rohde closed by saying that his role is to be the “sh-t umbrella” that preserves creativity from the ‘evil corporation.’ But he quickly disclaimed that Sony isn’t an evil corporation. “You may not know what’s coming out until the end of that two year process. But what does end up coming out is brilliant. The game has to bake for the creativity to come out.”

The panel then took questions from the audience, which ranged from how to get started in the industry to the future role of inde developers. One student wondered if students would stagnate as a result of narrowly focused game development programs at universities. He added that the biggest people in the gaming industry that he admires have very diverse backgrounds.

Richmond responded by saying there have been film students for thirty years now. Interesting people are going to do interesting things, regardless of what they study.

“I’m a big proponent of traditional kind of literature, history and liberal arts education because it gives you a broad foundation to draw on creatively,” said Hennig. “So my only concern is that it would get people into the craft too quickly. It may not matter, depending on what your role is on the team.”

The people who have a leg up in the job process also have good collaboration skills and no ego said Richmond. And good communication skills. “If you don’t have the ability to communicate your ideas cogently, you’ll not make it in this industry. Gone are the days of doing everything by yourself in some garage. It’s a team effort.”

About Speakeasy

Speakeasy is a blog covering media, entertainment, celebrity and the arts. The publication is produced by Barbara Chai and Jonathan Welsh with contributions from the Wall Street Journal staff and others. Write to us at speakeasy@wsj.com or follow us on Twitter at @WSJSpeakeasy or individually @barbarachai.